Hamburger Freezer session

So we got this coupon for a free one-day membership to Sam's Club. My husband asked me if I'd be interested in going? Sure, why not. So off we went.

It was a bit overwhelming. Luckily for me, I had my calculator with me, along with my mental price book. (If I'd been thinking, I'd have brought my actual price book, but we can't have everything, can we?)

So after breaking down prices into units, then converting the units into the portions that my normal grocery store sells, we discovered some of the things were good deals, and others were simply o.k. DH and I stuck to the things 1. that we knew were good deals, and 2. wouldn't rot or get bugs in them, and 3. we'd use.

We got toilet paper and dog food, laundry detergent and pancake syrup, bananas and a 10 pound tube of hamburger.

Yes, a 10 pound tube of hamburger. It was 90% lean, and a very good price.

Here are some facts about a 10 pound tube of hamburger.
1. It is as big around as the thigh of a 7 year old.
2. It is almost as tall as a 19 mo. old toddler.
3. It is almost impossible to resist slapping it.
4. A 4 1/2 year old will insist on carrying it around the house, before you are allowed to do anything with it.
5. It is also much more meat than I am used to looking at at a time.

This is what I did with my 10 pounds of hamburger:
One pound went into taco meat. (Made by TOH - nearly by herself)
Three pounds went into two meatloaves (BH&G basic recipe)
Three pounds went into 3 packages of meatballs.
Three pounds went into 3 batches of chili con carne. (I also put in 1/2 of one of those gigantic cans of crushed tomatoes in that. - the rest of the tomatoes I froze in 2 cup containers)

That's nine dinners done and in the freezer. Whew!

The upshot to all of this is that DH and I decided we didn't need a membership. Yes, they have some good deals, but mostly the grocery items are about the same price when you shop the sales at the "regular" grocery store, and don't even come close to touching the price you pay at Aldi. The other stuff may or may not be a good deal, but we don't usually buy big screen televisions or trampolines or stuff like that, so a membership for that sort of thing isn't worth it for us. If another one day membership comes along, will we take it? Probably, it was pretty entertaining at least, plus there were lots of samples being handed out.